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Philippine Made Belt Buckles


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This just arrived in the mail with a bunch of other insignia to include two Tridents that I purchased off of eBay pretty cheap ($20.50) as the description was very vague like vintage to newer military badge pin lot. What is different about this buckle is a name (Normandy M. Manalo) engraved on the back. I found this name on Facebook and messaged him to see if he was a USN Seal as he has a photograph on his Facebook page of the head of a military combat swimmer floating in the water. I'm wondering if he was a USN Seal or maybe the engraver of this buckle.

 

 

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WOW ! These are some fantastic buckles!

 

Although not the typical "Philippine" buckle, here's my one and only - attributed to a Brown Water Navy veteran (PTF-25 and PCF-67).

 

Philippine made or Vietnam made ??

 

 

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@didi-shots - Cool custom engraved buckle. Thanks for sharing! It's difficult to tell where it was engraved as it isn't the same style of engraving as a typical Philippine buckle.

 

@Tonomachi - Thank you for continuing to post your finds. Wow, looks like you got a great deal on that lot! I looked through my records and I can't find any other examples of the owner's name being engraved on the back of the buckle -- so I would say it is uncommon, but it does make complete sense if teammates have similar buckles and you don't want there to be any confusion of whose gear is belongs to whom. It's not uncommon to find the name of pilots engraved on the edges of buckles. Here are two examples although the buckle on the right may have the pilot's sweetheart's name engraved on it, although it is possible that the pilot's nickname is "Marge"....

 

Left: W. R. Armstrong

Right: Marge Stearns

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PhilippineBuckles

San Miguel Beer "Liberty" buckles are probably the most common single type of Philippines belt buckle out there. I have recorded over 20 different ones sold one ebay. They come in a variety of stylistic variations. Here are some more examples...

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  • 3 weeks later...

@PhillipineBuckles here is the Coast Guard Squadron Three buckle to Schnick. I feel very fortunate to have snagged it off eBay. I have many other Philippine buckles to the Coast Guard as well as some Zippo made pieces. Much of my loot has been in storage over the last eight years (living/working overseas) so I will try and post as I unearth them.post-233-0-89609400-1511139039_thumb.jpeg

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@pmargulies - Thanks for posting Paul Schnick's buckle. I'll look foward to seeing some of your other buckles when you get around to unearthing them.

 

Since it's been awhile since I posted a buckle, here is one for D.A. Lemstra...

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  • 4 weeks later...
PhilippineBuckles

@Steve Brannan - Love the Naval Aviator buckle!!! Thanks for sharing! While A.J. Smith's buckle doesn't say 1945 it is definitely the style of 1945-1946 buckles. I went back and looked at my records and I have yet to see a Naval Aviator buckle with 1945 engraved on it and none of the undated ones I've seen are a 1945-1946 style.

 

For anyone interested, I have recorded 175+ dated Philippine belt buckles. Here is how their dates break out...

 

pre-1944 3 1944 4 1945 58 1946 20 1947 13 1948 6 1949 2 1950-1954 28 1955-1959 11 1960-1964 4 1965-1969 9 1970-1974 5 1975-1979 1 1980-1984 6* 1985-1989 4 1990+ 1

 

The reason for the * for 1980-1984 is that it in 1980/1982/1983 there are unnamed "generic" dated Indian Ocean cruise aircraft carrier buckles and many examples of the same style of buckle exist. I have counted each year's cruise style only once.

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Here are the four 1944 buckles that I have seen. Note that three of them say Leyte (two from October and one dated Dec 26th).

 

Upper Left: Philippine Islands Oct. 1944 R.W. Springer Leyte

Upper Right: Philippine October 1944 H. A. Mess Leyte

Lower Left: Philippines 1944 D.R. Larkin

Lower Right: Philippines Leyte Dec 26, 1944 A. L. Page [Does everyone agree this is a USN Aviation Machinist Mate?]

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Salvage Sailor

Here are the four 1944 buckles that I have seen. Note that three of them say Leyte (two from October and one dated Dec 26th).

 

Upper Left: Philippine Islands Oct. 1944 R.W. Springer Leyte

Upper Right: Philippine October 1944 H. A. Mess Leyte

Lower Left: Philippines 1944 D.R. Larkin

Lower Right: Philippines Leyte Dec 26, 1944 A. L. Page [Does everyone agree this is a USN Aviation Machinist Mate?]

 

Aye,

  1. USN
  2. Electricians Mate
  3. Gunners Mate
  4. Aviation Machinist Mate
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  • 4 weeks later...
PhilippineBuckles

Well, I've seen my first 1945 US Naval Aviator buckle today. I love how the wings look like RAF wings. Apologies for the low resolution image.

 

Philippine Islands Manila April 1945 Cecil Pierce U.S.Navy

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Here's a better resolution image...

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  • 2 weeks later...
PhilippineBuckles

@Wharfmaster - Thank you for posting some real cool buckles. It's like Christmas morning for me too see so many ones I haven't seen before. My favorite of them is the pre-WWII Fort Mills buckle followed by the RJ Chardson's Aviation Electrician Mate buckle with the interesting font used to engrave his name. Each one has something special.

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  • 3 months later...
PhilippineBuckles

I was searching "sinking ship belt buckle usn" on google images and I found out too late that there were two belt buckle lots sold at a Skinner Historic Arms & Militaria auction on April 27, 2018. Someone has won some nice buckles from the collection of Nicholas A. Penachio.

 

Lot 194: https://m.skinnerinc.../3097M/lots/194

Lot 197: https://m.skinnerinc.../3097M/lots/197

 

Here is the image for Lot 194. I count 35 of the 46 items are engraved Philippine buckles.

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  • 4 weeks later...

PhilippineBuckles - Here are the closeups of the 3 buckles you wanted to see. I didn't realize this was such a big collecting field. Very interesting to see what is out there. I have or had another buckle but because it was not CG VN it was not of interest to me, until now. It has been years since I last saw it and I may have sold it. I think it was named to a CB. The Div. 12 buckle was mine and I used to wear it but don't have any pictures.

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Buckle #2

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Buckle #3

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@Condor - Thank you for posting individual photos of the three buckles I requested. The Squadron 3 Operation Market Time buckle is super cool! Thank you for noting that the Division 12 buckle was your own.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey PhilippineBuckles, did you score any buckles from the small collection that was sold on eBay recently? There were some nice buckles offered.

 

I was able to get two aviator buckles.

 

Chris

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Just got back from garage sales hunting this morning and picked up all of these buckles at one place for would you believe 2 dollars. One of the buckles is a Philippine made piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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@Tonomachi -- Great pick up for just $2. Thanks for sharing your find.

 

@Chris - I picked up 13 buckles on ebay last week from swordfinder1 who sold off what he bought at the Skinner auction. That said, only 7 of the 13 were classic Philippine Buckles. One is a mystery buckle which will need some research -- I'm thinking it might be a pre-WWII China Marine. I will start a new post for that one. Five of the buckles were brass post WWII - Korean War brass buckles from Japan/Korea -- this is a growing side collection I have. The 13th buckle I won is a Philippines made 1945 1st Calvary buckle (for Paul E. Bell) I've been looking to acquire an example of as the only other similarly made buckle I've seen is for sale at Flying Tiger Antiques with an asking price of $245 and is for Delbert Rupard 5th Regt. 1st Cav. 1945 Philippines.

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13 buckles is a great haul!!

 

I only managed to get two buckles. They were both Aviator buckles, but I was very happy to obtain the two !!

 

Chris

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